The typical engine oil filter system is a single pass, full flow filter that cleans the oil as it flows from the engine oil pump and then directs the flow to the oil galleys and other lubricated components of the engine. In order to more completely cleanse the oil, and to enable longer service life of the oil and engine components, additional, supplemental filtration in the form of by pass filtration is often utilized.
By pass filtration is achieved by diverting a small portion of an engines oil flow from a source under pressure, directing the flow slowly through a dense filter media and returning the bypass-filtered oil to the engine sump. In most applications of full flow and bypass technology, each of these filters are separate units with the full flow filter mounted directly to the engine and the by pass unit mounted remotely, connected to the engine oil system via hoses or other plumbing.
Presently, there are several prior art designs for combining the full flow filter with a by pass filter all in the same housing.
In order to utilize these various combined full flow/by pass filter units one of two conditions must be met:
1. The engine and its oil filtration mounting apparatus must be designed for a specific combination filter unit. This combined full flow/by pass unit will not be readily useable on other engine designs. Thus the advantages offered by this type of full flow/by pass filter system are only available to a small and limited population of engines.
2. There are some generic types of full flow/by pass filter systems available that can be adapted to the general population of engines. However, these are after-market add-on products resulting in ad hoc mounting, often requiring special mounting brackets, remote filter head adapters and lengthy connecting hoses all of which are departures from the original engine design.
A further problem, especially with the first filters mentioned above, is that the rate of oil flow through the by pass portion of the combined full flow/by pass filter system must be taken as an article of faith. The separate, independent, and measurable flow of oil through the by pass portion cannot be observed or positively verified.
It is an object of this invention to provide a combination full flow/by pass engine oil filtration system that is easily adaptable to virtually all present day internal combustion engines, requiring no modification to said engine.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a means to readily measure and verify the separate oil flow through the by pass portion of the claimed filtration system.